The present invention relates to the field of medical or laboratory equipment. More particularly, this invention relates to a means of securing slack portions of tube set lines or other lines to a medical device, including but not limited to a medical pump.
Modern medical care often involves the use of medical pump or other devices to deliver fluids and/or fluid medicine to patients. Medical pumps are typically used to meter fluid through a tube set and into a patient.
Tube sets typically have an inlet line portion transporting fluid from a fluid bag to the medical pump, and an outlet line portion transporting fluid from the medical pump to a patient. As tube sets come in many designs, the length of inlet and outlet line portions are not uniform, and often vary from use to use. Further, the distance from the fluid bag to the medical pump and the distance from the medical pump to the patient are also variable. Due to these variations in line length as well as distance between fluid bag, medical pump, and patient, there is typically a slack portion of line formed in one or more of the inlet and outlet line portions.
Whether slack portions occur in the inlet line portion or the outlet line portion, they are at best inconvenient and at worst detrimental to the proper administration of fluid to the patient. The fluid bag, tube set and medical pump are often attached to a wheeled pole stand and transported to a new location. During transport, the slack portion of the outlet line portion can cause an adaptor end of the tube set to drag on the floor, contaminating the previously sterilized tube set. Where more than one tube set is in use, for example in a programmable multiple channel medical pump, the slack portions can cause a user to lose proper tube set/channel correspondence, resulting in incorrect administration of fluid to the patient. Further loose slack portions create a tangling and/or tripping hazard for those persons moving about the tube set.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide means securing slack portions of tube set lines to a medical pump or similar device.
A further object of the this invention is the provision of a means for securing slack portions of tube set lines to a medical pump such that a generally vertical flow pattern is easily maintained.
A further object of the this invention is the provision of a means for securing slack portions of tube set lines to a medical pump such that flow path/channel correspondence is visually readily apparent to a user.
A further object of the this invention is the provision of a means for looping and securing slack portions of tube set lines to a medical pump such that the chances of folds, kinks, and occlusions in the lines are reduced.
A further object of the this invention is the provision of a means for securing slack portions of tube set lines to the handle of a medical pump.
A further object of the this invention is the provision of a means for securing slack portions of tube set lines to a cleat or tube hanger located on the front face of a medical pump.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.